Look it’s NOT Wurthering Heights. OKAY?

Published 30 September 2012

There can’t, frankly, be many times on the Pennine Way where you stand on the path and think “Wow. How surreal.” It’s just not that kind of path.

But roundabout day four, some way on from Hebden Bridge and a few miles before Pondon, the long distance walker suddenly finds themselves surrounded by footpath signs translated in to four different languages, and a rather large number of Japanese tourists with camera.

The reason is an old farm building named Top Withins which is commonly believed to be the inspiration for the Earnshaw family house in Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights.

But, as the Brontë Society took great pains to point out in the 1960s, the building looks nothing like Wuthering Heights. Which must be a very nice sign to see when you’ve travelled half way across the globe to come and see it.